I've got glaucoma. It's not all that rare among personages of an age I
have grudgingly reached. Even if I skip the drops--which I usually do
on weekends, as well as skipping all the other pills that modify my
heart rate, bowel movements, and general deportment--I don't go blind.
And so far, I've noticed no change in visual acuity. As far as I know,
cloudiness of the cornea equals cataracts, not glaucoma. I've had that,
too. One of the great disadvantages of living in Florida is that the
brightness of the sun advances the formation of cataracts. But lasers
zap them out and ophalmalagists replace the corneas with plastic
implants.

All this brings to mind that Kenneth Fearing wrote a short story for [I
think] the first issue of "Discovery" magazine [which was really a
Bantam paperback book and the same issue published William Styron's
"Long March"] about a society in which humans were having various body
parts replaced with plastic stuff. As I recall, a chic young woman had
the pinky of her left hand replaced with a cigarette lighter.

I can't be the only one old enough to remember Fearing, Discovery, and
this story. Can I? Yeah, maybe. But Styron? Sophie's Choice?

On Monday, June 7, 2004, at 05:27 PM, Kitty wrote:

Pam,
I did just a little googling and found, "Glaucoma doesn't usually
cause eye
pain unless you have narrow angles. Persons with narrow angles may
experience a deep, boring pain that can become an emergency if the
fluid
can't filter out of your eye."

This must be what the Vet was talking about. He said the cat, all this
time, was not excperiencing pain. He pointed out the tilting back as
not
being a problem, nor painful - I'm guessing because of the angle. He
said
if it tilts forward, there would be a problem - I'm guessing that
would be a
narrower angle, causing the above mentioned fluid filter problem - -
which
is what he meant by the eye could blow.

Anyway, even if he is safe for now, I worry that if the cornea is now
tilting, even in a not-so-bad way, it is that much easier for it to
tilt the
wrong way as well. I'm going to have to be more vigilant and check
his eye
every day for changes. I may have to plan on spending some $$$ here.
Last
week's bill was over $300 and probably another $80-100 next month.
Not easy
on unemployment, though I did plan for it.